Devil's Deal
by CrypticMoonFang
Summary: When Danny's revenge schemes on Dash become one too many, Sam makes a deal with the devil to protect him from the consequences, using herself as the bargain. (Potential DxS)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"How?"

"Take your best guess, Tuck."

"Or you could just _leave it alone_ , Danny."

"Ghost powers can come in handy in more ways than one, Sam."

She gave up—the uselessness of talking a ghost and a nerd out of _another_ revenge scheme was off the charts… Why couldn't they simply let things go? It only antagonized Dash, their primary target. Their reasoning was somewhat just and somewhat stupid—they were the constant victims of Dash's violence, always bullied and picked on. It was kind of sad. Dash got away with _everything_ he did. But to resort to ghost powers? Things never ended well that way.

But perhaps in their thick heads it would.

She sat back and watched the two boys concoct some plan that she was sure would eventually either backfire or come back to bite them in the butt.

After a few minutes they seemed to have decided on something—she prayed it was only mildly provocative.

Danny ducked under the cafeteria table and sunk into the floor with a mischievous smile on his face. That smile was the key indicator that this one would not be mild but definitely still provocative. _Too_ provocative.

Dash suddenly stood up and pulled his pants down. Tighty whities. Nice. He pulled his underwear out and stuffed his food in them.

She closed her eyes and held her head in her hands. Dash would be so ticked at this and Danny would suffer his anger. She heard the entire school mocking Dash. Or, more accurately, Danny in Dash's body….

"Dash" sat down, the sound of his food squishing in his underwear quite audible to everyone. Danny reappeared from under the table and sat contentedly next to her.

Tucker was laughing through a mouthful of food.

"Dude, that was _amazing!_ "

She shook her head in disappointment.

"I didn't see anything 'amazing', I saw _someone_ act like a child and that _someone_ will get beaten to a pulp by the end of the day," she said.

"Why, Sam!" Danny gasped. "Surely you don't mean me!"

She sarcastically raised an eyebrow. "No, I mean the _other_ ghost boy in town."

Both the boys giggled like a couple of little girls and she sighed.

"I swear, you two are impossible!" she huffed as she abandoned her food to leave the cafeteria.

It was for the best. There really were times she couldn't stand them. And though Tucker never actually pulled the prank, he supported each and every one. That was bad in and of itself. It only gave Danny another reason to pull these stupid pranks that _always_ got him in trouble with Dash. It was just the worst… Maybe if Tucker joined her in discouraging his foolishness, Danny would—le gasp— _stop_.

But whatever. Let those two do what they will, nothing would change their minds anyway…

Flashes of Danny being thrown into concrete and bricks, getting a huge beating trying to protect others, went through her mind. It was wrong to call them _totally_ foolish. Danny got hurt at school, randomly on the streets, and occasionally at home. Maybe the pranks weren't just about Dash. Maybe he wanted some outlet for all that frustration. So…in a way, she felt a little sorry for him.

She stopped walking and leaned against a wall. The bell would ring soon and the daily rush to class would rumble through the halls. She wondered if she would hear Danny's cries as he pushed his way through the crowd, followed by Dash and his threats. They were both idiots in their own respect… Dash academically and Danny maturity.

But Dash saved the football team. Danny saved the city. So. Yeah. It was probably the only reason she could forgive him so easily.

Cue bell. Cue Crowd. Cue chatter. Cue Danny. Cue Dash.

This time the threat became an action because Danny's attempt to use his small size to hide within the crowed failed and Dash caught him by the scruff of his shirt. He turned the boy around to face him and growled furiously. He tried to squirm his way out but Dash wasn't having it today and ripped open the nearest locker, violently cramming his victim inside and slamming the door back.

He left only halfway satisfied with the punishment he'd just dished out.

Let it never be said that she didn't warn him—or in this case, predict—that this was to come.

She waited until Dash rounded the corner before gently opening the locker to let her friend out.

"Thanks, Sam," he said.

"Don't _thank me!_ You're the one who got yourself into this _again!_ How many times do I have to tell you _not_ to be so stupid?"

"It's not stupid," he protested. "But it's not like he ever shoves you into lockers, how would you understand? It's not just a prank, it's justified revenge."

"It's boyish and immature."

"Untrue. May I emphasize the 'justified' part?"

"You know what? I'm sick of letting you out of lockers. I'm sick of helping you down every time he hangs you on something. I'm sick of helping you find your pants. I do all these things because for some reason I have this dumb idea that you _might_ one day change your mind. It won't happen though, will it? You enjoy every minute of it knowing I'm here to cover your back when you screw up!"

She stormed off as he closed the abused locker.

Forgiving him was easy, yes, but unfortunately she had to do it repeatedly, frequently, when it would be great if she never had to in the first place. But for now, she didn't even want to see Danny.

Unfortunately she got the pleasure of running into Dash, who was busy picking on another unlucky nerd right down the hall.

Then she got an idea. If Dash would stop picking on Danny, Danny would have no "justifiable" reason to pull any pranks—nothing to avenge. But how could she do that…? It was—

"Manson!" he angrily yelled to her.

She rolled her eyes and walked up to him. The nerd had escaped, to her relief, once his attention had been redirected to her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Listen to me," he said, "I don't know how he does it but I _know_ Fenton's the one pulling these pranks on me. I still have meatball sauce in my underwear thanks to him!"

"And if you would stop picking on him wouldn't the cycle end? Ever think about that?"

"Listen here, Manson…" he growled. "If you don't get your boyfriend to stop, Foley's next. Got it?"

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Why can't you just get through one day without aggravating anyone?"

"Why can't your boyfriend stop aggravating me?"

Such maturity…

"Danny's not my boyfriend, first of all, and second of all, one of you has to be the bigger man and just _stop!_ "

He smirked. "One of us has to be the bigger man, huh?"

She nodded. "And I can't change Danny's mind so that leaves you. Be the bigger man. Stop."

He chuckled and without warning, backed her up against the wall.

"I'll be the bigger man, just like you want," he said. "I need a little…support, though."

The way he looked at her made her uneasy. It wasn't that cocky smirk. It wasn't his dimwitted attitude. It was his eyes… There was something in there. He almost seemed primal…

"As it happens," he mumbled to her, "Paulina and I are…well, we're taking a little break right now."

"Mm. Sorry to hear that." Pfft.

"I'll just get straight to the point here." He cleared his throat. "A big man has big needs. And a bigger man…" He brought his face close to hers. "…has bigger needs."

Was he threatening her? Was this supposed to be a red flag? Because this looked like a huge red flag.

"I'll make you a deal, Manson. I'll be the bigger man and lay off Fenton. In return you'll take care of my bigger needs," he suggested. "Sound good?"

He had to be kidding. If they were on the same page, she would not be satisfying anyone's _needs_ —especially not "bigger needs". That sounded repulsive, not good.

"You can forget it," she answered. "I'm not that kind of girl."

He took a deep breath, smiled, and pulled away from her.

"Whatever the lady wants," he chuckled.

He walked away with her glaring at him in disgust.

 **A/N**

 **So this was my idea but there's a chance it could turn M, in which case CornerstoneKey will take over all M-rated scenes. I'll try to keep it T though, since I'm not known for writing M-rated fics.**

 **Anyway, hope this turns out better than I'm expecting—very little attention, in case anyone is wondering. (I keep low expectations especially when I write a** **new story—I won't abandon The Boy With the Rings, Stable Boy [previously known as Whatshisface], or Flowers Will Grow though.)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The following day felt tense to Sam. Danny and Tucker had that same spirit as yesterday and congrats to them for it. Now Danny wasn't the only target of Dash… While he wouldn't likely throw her into a locker or wall, he did want to do something to her—he wanted something _from_ her. She'd bluntly told him no, she refused his generous offer, but he'd seemed very intent yesterday. It bothered her even into the day after.

She could've told Danny. Even if it seemed farfetched Danny would've taken this seriously and he would've done something about it the moment she told him. But…she didn't tell anyone. Danny had his own secret far bigger than this measly one that didn't actually affect anyone and to suddenly overpower one of the strongest boys in school would arouse plenty of suspicion. It wasn't worth it. Besides, Dash hadn't done anything all day and neither had Danny. Ultimately there was just no reason to get him all riled up over a clearly idle threat, and one where Dash had accepted her refusal.

Still she had remained unusually vigilant of her surroundings. She'd opened the floodgates to bad things, she could feel it inside her… But it was probably better than feeling something _else_ inside her. She shuddered at the thought.

She jumped when she heard a cry and heard a thud around the corner of the hall. She and Tucker immediately ran to see what had happened. Tucker got there first. His jaw dropped. She got there next. Her jaw dropped.

There was Danny, curled up on the floor, tightly clinching his abdomen. His assailant was already walking away. She didn't fail to see the smirk he had when he looked over his shoulder at her. That one split second went unnoticed by the other two boys but her? This was Dash's way of beating her up, she didn't have a shadow of a doubt about that.

That one glance he gave her sent a very clear message and she knew for a fact that he would keep this up until Paulina came back and she would be released from the disgusting deal…hopefully.

She bent down and gently helped Danny sit up.

"Are you okay, Danny?" she asked, despite the answer being the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah…" he grunted. "I'm fine."

"What was _that_ about?" Tucker rhetorically asked. "I mean I've seen him wail on you before but this is extreme even for him…"

She waited until Tucker was completely distracted by Danny to watch Dash's retreating form. Anger began to broil but she pretended to be calm anyway.

"He's just a jerk," Sam said.

A gross jerk with a consistently guttered mind…

She sighed and assisted Tucker in helping him off the floor.

"Let's just get you to class…" she said. "At the least there he won't touch you. Not much, anyway."

The trio moved on through the halls, the boys completely unaware of why Dash had been so much harsher than normal. It crossed her mind several times to tell either of them on the way to class, and she almost did, but kept her mouth shut. This would end after a few days and she could go about chastising Danny and Tucker on their immaturity. All would be right with the world. She would…eventually find some way to keep them from pranking Dash… So still no need to send anybody into a blind rage.

She sat down in the seat closest to Dash instead of her usual seat beside Danny. She had several messages of her own to send this bag of trash that she knew she could get across nonverbally.

At first it was merely a glare to catch his attention, which worked the moment he looked her way. He replied to this little glare with a casual shrug. She wasn't afraid to let anger fuel her next expression. He responded by putting one arm on his desk and leaning closer to her. She furrowed her eyebrows, crossed her arms, and frowned. He raised one eyebrow. She turned her head back to the teacher but kept her eyes on him. He smirked, shrugged again, and went back to focusing on Mr. Lancer.

She set her jaw and sneaked a quick look at Danny and Tucker, sitting side by side as usual, to see if they caught any of that. It didn't look like they did. Her secret conversation had gone undetected. Good.

But bad in that Dash had made himself just as clear as she did. Maybe it would stop in a few days but at least until then he would not relent on Danny; and if Danny kept up those pranks, Tucker would be just as much a target as he was.

And…she was given the chance to do something about that, to stop their pain, but Dash's little deal was too much to ask. If he asked her to pay him something, now that she could do, and she would've had no problem in accepting it. But this? No. She wasn't selling herself for _anything_. Somehow Dash wasn't quite understanding this.

She would just have to wait it out and hope things would get better by the end of the week, or maybe the end of next week—safer to say sometime in the near future.

* * *

Buuuut naturally, it did not. Due to the extremeness of Dash's request she'd been watching Danny suffer, and still had no luck trying to get him to stop being such a juvenile idiot. Tucker had begun getting the same treatment, when in the past he'd gotten either nothing or, in comparison to Danny, a slap on the wrist. It had been four weeks total, despite her planning of two weeks, and things had only gotten worse. She knew it would continue to get worse—Dash would find a way to _make_ things worse.

She was surprised Danny didn't duck for cover in broom closets or save Dash the trouble by throwing himself into a locker, or giving himself a wedgie, or dunking his head in the toilet and give himself a swirly. It was gross, it was wrong, but it was what happened more frequently and more severely than ever before. Dash was a horrible person but he was an excellent football player—something that exempted him from most punishments, and something that allowed him to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and sometimes wherever he wanted. As long as nobody ended up hospitalized he was in the clear.

And she was getting sicker and sicker of helping Danny for the consequences of his own actions, but it was rippling to Tucker and not even Danny's foolishness should be met with this torture… She, on the other hand, was being tortured in an entirely different way…and Dash knew it.

She'd already tried acting like this didn't bother her but it was poor acting. She tried to laugh it off when Dash was around but anyone could see through that. She was too close to Danny and Tucker for this to _not_ affect her in every way imaginable. Tucker was her brother in spirit and Danny was…kind of a crush, maybe? She wasn't too sure yet and didn't want to jump to conclusions about her own emotions…but lately she hadn't had the time or focus to sort any of that out yet. Even at night, even after school when Danny and Tucker were both safe from Dash and the rest of the football team, she still worried. It even brought her to tears sometimes because she knew exactly what was coming the next day.

Dash hadn't mentioned his deal since they last spoke four weeks ago…he knew he didn't have to. He knew she wouldn't forget it. He knew she would eventually start to consider it. He didn't even have to lay a hand on her for that to happen, because she'd bitten the line and no matter how much she fought it he was reeling her in little by little. Every punch the two took gave her two more reasons to say yes and now she was seriously considering just saying yes. That was all she had to do.

Then this would end.

 **A/N**

 **Yup, also a short one. The rest won't be this way…I guess I consider the first two a half chapter, to be honest. I'm not sure yet if I'll make her say yes right now or procrastinate. From the summary we all knew she says yes anyway, I'm just not sure when.**

 **This thing got a little more attention than I thought it would. I was kind of surprised. Lol**

 **I also was told there was a similar story which sucks for me because I thought this was an original idea… ;-;**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The continuing days were harder and harder. Each time Dash looked at her, each time their eyes met, she could see as clear as glass that this would not end anytime soon… Part of her strongly wanted to say yes and get it over with, but the part of her that was nervous was intentionally scrambling her thoughts. She did _not_ want this for herself…but she also didn't want this for Danny or Tucker.

But every day that went by, it seemed like they were being treated more severely than the last. And that hurt. It hurt _bad_ , maybe even worse than anything Dash would do. Still, this was her _body_ and it wasn't on the market. She kept up her hopes that one day soon, Dash would get that through his head.

Her attempts to reach Danny were still failures. No matter how many times she tried he either wouldn't listen to a word or Tucker would take his side and support all his wrongdoings. She couldn't stop him. She couldn't talk him out of anything. She couldn't get Tucker to talk him out of anything.

She still hadn't told anyone else about Dash's proposal. She wanted this thing to be handled peacefully and quietly. To tell Danny would wake up a hellhound. Then his secret would get loose, who knew what else would happen then… None of that was worth it to her.

But she started to question whether their pain _was_ … It wouldn't stop, not unless Danny stopped, and Danny wouldn't stop unless Dash did, and Dash wouldn't stop unless Danny did—or unless the alternative was met.

She would lay awake at night, tucked under her covers, wrapped up in a warm cocoon, unsafe from tumultuous thoughts. She should never have gone up to Dash. She should never have talked to him. She should never have heard him out. Her friends were paying dearly for what she'd done, and for what she was refusing to do. Whether it was fair to her or not, they didn't deserve this.

And she could end it at any time—it was her choice. She kept holding back though, kept postponing the inevitable. She knew she'd give in sooner or later—Dash knew it too.

The option to simply tell someone else pressed on her conscience all the time. Once or twice she almost did. But…she didn't.

Tell an adult? Even now Dash was getting away with all this violence, what difference would an unaccepted offer make? And if she were to accept—which she knew she would—she would be giving Dash her consent to…do things. So he'd get away with that too.

Tell Danny? What, and awaken aforementioned hellhound? He would blow his secret without thinking of any consequences. The government would catch wind of it and the Guys In White would be all over him. Not to mention any humans still holding a grudge against Phantom for whatever reason. He would only be an easier target, it wasn't like this would give him some new, untold power. She wasn't worth all that.

Tell Tucker? She might as well be telling Danny. Tucker would _never_ keep this from him, even if she paid him handsomely to shut his mouth. Besides, even if Tucker did keep this quiet, there wasn't anything he could do about it now that he had also been pulled into the lion's den.

Tell her parents? HAH.

Tell Dash's parents? Oh sure, the geek girl against the word of their athletic angel, that would work splendidly.

Unlike most people she actually considered her options and took into account the full extent of what might happen later down that chosen path. So far the best one looked to be just…sparing her friends another moment of suffering. This would be different if Dash wasn't Casper's star quarterback. But, of course, he was, and life never favored the innocent very often.

Although…she could simply be _not_ innocent and some shred of this might be fixed.

But that meant she'd be giving it to _Dash_ … She wanted to save herself for the man she would marry. She didn't know who it was or when it would be, but Dash was not this man and she didn't want her first time to be with him _ever_. No exceptions.

But wouldn't this count as an exception…? No. No.

But her friends' cries filled her head… She hated hearing that. It was really getting to her. But that was exactly what Dash wanted.

But it was working. But…she couldn't let it.

…

She would agree to this thing, eventually. What use was there putting it off?

No! No, there had to be something else, something she'd overlooked or maybe just forgotten about. Something. Anything! Anyone who could help her was out of the question. Yes, she could call the police, but Dash wasn't even talking to her anymore and wasn't directly pressuring her to do anything. This probably wouldn't qualify as sexual harassment. He was bullying people, sure, but "boys will be boys" and nobody had ever been seriously injured because of him. He had this sick way of managing to draw the line for himself, make sure he didn't hurt anyone too bad. He could beat them within an inch of arrest but never went further, never went far enough for the law to finally take it seriously. No teachers or other authorities at school cared much and turned a blind eye every time.

He knew just how to work the system, and despite his flushed grades and general lack of academic knowledge, he was overly skilled in manipulation. It was scary but undeniable.

And the thing was, he never once touched her. He could easily pull her off to the side, somewhere totally private and hidden, and do whatever he wanted. He didn't. His goal was for _her_ to come to _him_. Sicko. Still, it was a pretty clever plan, she had to admit. Simple yet very effective. … _Extremely_ effective.

There was no further incident with Dash for the rest of that day, but she could bet every hundred she owned that it was because Danny had been distracted by persistent ghosts. They weren't much of a problem for him, in terms of difficulty, but they continued to show up. At least Danny had one thing prioritized…

It also spared her another day of that evil look Dash would give her—the one she was powerless to stop. She couldn't help but wonder when Paulina would come back, assuming she ever would. Dash was gross but she didn't think he was the type to cheat. He'd drop her as soon as Paulina agreed to get back together with him. Perhaps Danny would still take a few poundings but it wouldn't be nearly as severe, and Tucker would be left to cheer the revenge pranks on from the sidelines.

 **A/N**

 **Well…um…idk what else to write… Kind of blocked right now. XS Ugh. This chapter is dramatically shorter and I'm sorry for that—I swear I tried to make it longer. Hopefully it gives some amount of quality.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sam did nothing but watch from the sidelines—again—as Dash got his revenge on Danny—again—for getting his revenge on Dash—again. The sound of that locker being slammed shut seemed to reverberate throughout the halls. The sound only ever seemed to get louder and louder as the weeks passed. She still wasn't getting anywhere with Danny. She continued to deny the _fact_ that unless _she_ submitted to Dash, Danny would continue to be an absolute child and wind up in his clutches again. She'd started putting a generous distance between Dash and herself. It was her last ditch effort to send the message that she wasn't going to agree to his sick little proposal. Either he wasn't getting that message or he was blatantly ignoring it.

This was their unspoken language now. Every time they made eye contact their feelings got across to each other. Every time one of them smiled or frowned a certain way, the other knew precisely what they were thinking. Every scowl and snarl spoke volumes. There was a consistent sense of challenge between them as well. It was almost as if they were playing a game of chicken, except the only one participating was her.

She figured that by now Paulina would've taken him back. She hadn't. She had, at least for the time being, moved on to Kwan. Although Kwan wasn't reciprocating her affections and flirting, Dash still harbored anger at his friend and that, too, was taken out on Danny.

Tucker had begun to be victimized almost as much as Danny. Dash was getting more serious each time yet somehow still treaded along the delicate line that separated illegal from roughhousing.

Since Paulina wasn't as interested in Dash, and probably wouldn't be for some time, her friends' fates were her burden to carry.

"Every time, Manson," Dash mumbled to her as he strode by.

She looked over her shoulder—that glare unseen but felt.

"Not happening, Baxter," she grumbled back.

He heard her. She knew he did. That one slight falter in his step gave it away. He was getting a little too cocky even for _his_ massive ego.

Sighing, she walked over to the lockers and opened both of them. First out was Tucker, who was quick to get back into his feet once released. Second out was Danny, who stayed down for a few seconds in pain. The way he held his abdomen suggested he'd been hit there. As horrifying as it seemed, there were times Sam wished he would break a bone or something. Dash could get arrested for that. All three of them would be let off the hook at long last. Additionally, it could stand to teach Danny a lesson about the childishness of his actions.

Danny braced himself against the closed lockers and pulled himself to his feet.

"If you would just stop messing with him I'm _positive_ he'll stop picking on you— _both_ of you," Sam said.

Danny let out a short, forced laugh. "Please. Since when has Dash ever made it that simple."

"What goes around comes around," Tucker agreed. "Dash had it coming."

She rolled her eyes. "Is it really worth it?"

It would be her dream come true if they would realize it was _not_ worth it. But…

"Absolutely," Tucker chuckled.

"I use my ghost powers to protect the innocent. Does Dash look innocent to you?" Danny asked.

"He picks on the innocent," Tucker added. "Ergo, Danny using his powers to teach Dash a lesson or two is technically protecting the innocent."

The boys high-fived.

Honestly they had no idea how much their ignorance was depressing her. They saw it as a well-deserved revenge scheme against a common enemy. She saw it as another step closer to giving in to Dash. If not for those thoughts she would be furious. Instead she was ready to have a nervous breakdown. Why weren't they picking up on that? She'd been nagging them far more than usual and had been dancing a slightly more passive-aggressive dance with Dash. Were they really so absorbed with revenge pranks that they had no idea _something_ was up?

She took a deep breath and tried to shake that question out of her head—if it ever got serious they would take notice and stop. Nothing had gotten serious yet, that was all. Not much to be too worried about. And hey, maybe they would wizen up and stop before anything even had a chance to get serious.

She turned around and quietly walked to her next class, where she sat as far away from Dash as possible. By now they didn't have to look at each other to know who thought what. It was like this whole ordeal was bringing them closer in the creepiest way. The difference was that while he found it difficult to not break out his patented arrogant smile, she had difficulty keeping her heartbeat regular and not so erratic with stress.

Homework was enough stress. Social awkwardness and being grouped in with the outliers who didn't have any particular clique—not even a clique for outliers—was already uncomfortable when Danny and Tucker weren't around. This took it to a whole new level and that was the thing that was slowly sending her over the edge. But she couldn't let him know that on purpose, even though he had probably known for a while now. She was above that. She was better than Paulina, who would probably sell herself in an instant to…well, any jock or rich guy.

She muddled through Chemistry and acted about as normal as possible around Danny and Tucker. They didn't seem to suspect something was going on between Dash and her. That was good…hopefully. They wouldn't look into something that might not happen anyway. And she wouldn't be associated with Dash in any way, at all. Win-win.

That was the ideal situation…but the next _several_ days proved to her that these two babies weren't catching on at all, and worse, she had actually been considering…dare it even be said…talking to _Jazz_ about it. She wanted advice, she wanted help, she wanted to escape this but when both the boys spent their weekend nursing black and blue bruises, to the point where she was almost afraid to touch them, that crossed the line. _Perhaps_ she could've let it slide, given the hideousness of Dash's deal, but when Danny has a hard time fighting ghosts and Tucker had a hard time keeping up with him—when she was the only one who seemed to have enough energy to run around the town in the dead of night ready to battle anything and help out when needed—it wasn't something she could overlook anymore.

It took her some time, unfortunately, to build up enough courage and resolve to confront Dash about it. Aside from very occasional mumbling like last week when he passed her in the halls, they hadn't talked at all. That alone made this all the more intimidating and although she genuinely did try for the first few days of the following week, she chickened out. Danny and Tucker were bullied yet again and she did nothing about it. She didn't even have it in her to nag them anymore.

She had to wait and catch Dash alone, without either of the boys hovering around her and without Dash's posse hovering around him. The best idea she could come up with was to slip a notecard in his locker telling him to meet her at the Nasty Burger, sighed with her name at the bottom—in print, since a real signature might've been too much for his low IQ to handle.

That, and her nerves made her cursive rather sloppy lately…

It wasn't easy getting through the day. Everything started out fairly normal but she could sense the change in Dash's attitude after lunch was over and knew he had read her note. Several times she wished she could take it all back, and it probably wasn't too late to do that, but Tucker had been poking at a bruise on his shoulder since Monday…and it was Thursday. Danny had winced when a textbook fell and bumped against his shin. Another gift from Dash…

However today, even Danny's much milder prank was shrugged off, almost as if Dash was telling her he meant what he said. No harm came to the boys that day. Everything was smooth sailing for them and the plan was for all three of them to see a movie together. She had to take feeling sick just to get out of that, and let Danny walk her home while she sniffled, shivered, and pretended to be sleepy. The excuse was that she would do a little studying and then go to bed early, and hopefully feel better tomorrow.

She did study, that much wasn't a lie. She knew the movie time and intentionally waited for the inevitable phone call from either Danny or Tucker to check up on her before they went in because they were _not_ coming out. Not with _Avenger's Endgame_ playing. That gave her about three hours to talk to Dash with assurance that they wouldn't come in and see the two of them together. She wasn't sure she would be able to come up with a believable excuse fast enough to explain what she was doing with Dash. That movie would ensure her privacy.

After half an hour or so, while she had her head buried in a textbook, the phone call from Tucker came. He asked how she was feeling and she did her best to sound sick without overselling it. It was a short conversation and she was in no rush to hang up but they were too excited about the movie. As soon as the call ended she stood up and sighed.

Time to be healthy again.

 **A/N**

 ***sigh* Why am I like this... Been a hot minute, I know, and this fic was not my first priority. Been focusing on The Boy With the Rings, which is off hiatus now. I had this whole thing written out, actually, but never posted it because it's HALF the length of any of my normal fics and last chapter was already short. What they mint chocolate chip Cryptic?!**

 **I do have exams coming up so I won't be writing much this week. I have ideas in mind for the next chapter but I'm not sure when I'll even get the chance to write them (TBWtR comes first since it's way better and although much harder and more challenging, is one of the few 100% original and unused ideas in this fandom so it's definitely one of my better and more valuable fics). Time to hit the books! I hope everyone enjoyed this...horrible, awful, hideous excuse for a chapter...**


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